Vice principal says Auf Wiedersehen to school

As the German School ended another year of education it also bid farewell to a key faculty member.

On Friday, Vice Principal Monika Straub celebrated the German School's annual end of the year learning festival for the last time.

"This is my last event as the vice principal," Straub said. "I already know I'm going to miss it here. I'm going back to the state of Baden-Württemberg near Heidelberg."

Straub said her time at the school was up and that she will be moving back home to Germany.

"I stayed in Alamogordo for eight years," she said. "The last six years I've been the vice principal."

Straub said she started out at the German School as regular teacher who taught French and physical education. She said becoming the vice principal of the school was an honor and a job she thoroughly enjoyed.

"It was challenging," she said. "But I like to have responsibilities and I liked having an impact on the school."

Straub said during her eight years at the school she did her best to create more communication and partnerships with the local community.

"I always tried to support the communication between the German and American community," she said. "For example, I started to create cooperation with the Desert Light Film Festival. Each year our school participated in this festival."

She said the school also worked closely with Alamogordo High School to open up more opportunities for German students to interact with American students.

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"I helped to start cooperation with the high school," she said. "Last year, we started cooperating with (AHS) on the sports teams. That means our students are now eligible to join the high school sports teams."

Straub said during her time as the vice principal she appreciated all the help the community provided to the German School.

"Everywhere I was always looking for something to improve our school and I found people who opened the door and helped us," she said.

She said she really enjoyed interacting with residents of the community and that she would miss how friendly the people were in Alamogordo.

"I'll miss the kindness," she said. "People are so friendly here and they are so open and they start talking to you. I also have a lot of very good friends and I will miss them dearly. They were all so supportive of me while I was here."

Straub said she is really going to miss the atmosphere of the German School.

"I'll miss how everybody knows everybody," she said. "Here, I know the kids in elementary school and they know me. I was able to substitute in elementary. I would never have had the opportunity in Germany."

In parting, Straub had a little advice for the students of the German School.

"I'd say they should always take advantage of the possibility to get to know another culture and another country and people," she said. "Sometimes it's a problem that they stick too much in the German community and that's why I always wanted to break those borders and to create an approach. I think it is very important to open the mind and say, 'hey they may speak another language but they have the same problems or the same goals and wishes and ideas.' So, it's just nice to try and share them."